Taubman files court claim to hold Simon to merger deal

The year’s biggest mall marriage is not a bust…yet.

In a court filing made Wednesday responding to Simon Property Group’s lawsuit to cancel its $3.6 billion acquisition of Taubman Centers, Taubman asked for an expedited hearing that could prevent Simon’s attempt to “run out the clock” on the deal, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. 

In a press release issued on June 10, Taubman stated that it “believes that Simon’s purported termination of the Merger Agreement is invalid and without merit, and that Simon continues to be bound to the transaction in all respects.”

Simon backed out because it claimed that Taubman’s operations had been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Taubman’s court filing called that assumption baseless, saying that Simon knew “full well that there was a pandemic raging in the world” when the purchase agreement was signed on February 9.

Taubman stated that Simon’s pulling out of the deal would cause “irreparable harm” to its stockholders.